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April 16, 2004 (vol. 113, iss. 136)
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Image 10

BUSINESS
Continued from Page 1.
who work here and their customers,"
he said.
Despite such obstacles, some local
owners said they have no choice but to
just deal with the difficulties of doing
business. "You just have to deal with
whatever they lay on you. You have to
work your fingers to the bone," said
Bill Loy, an owner of Student Bike
Shop on Maynard Street.
The survey also found ways in
which the city promoted business
growth. Fifty two percent of respon-
dents said they felt that the city's cul-
tural amenities and lifestyle promoted
business and 23 percent said they felt
proximity to the University made the
city an attractive place to do business.
While many store owners admitted
they are faced with extremely high
costs, they said they are also grateful to
do business in a well-groomed city
with low crime rates.
"The cost of doing business may be
high, but this city is also considered
one of the best cities to live in,"
Telemaco said.
Business owners gathered late last
month to discuss these issues in a forum
titled "Agenda: Ann Arbor" organized
by the Chamber of Commerce. A real-
time electronic survey was also conduct-
ed at this time. Lower taxes, lower cost
housing, and more efficient rules and
regulations were among the most heated
topics discussed.
Brandt Coultras, director of govern-
mental affairs for the chamber, said the
forum and survey results will be used
for further discussion. However, the
chamber does not have a ready
response to the results, he said.
"The information collected will
move the community forward on these
issues. ... The chamber will also take
a closer look at the results ... (taxes) is
clearly a major concern for the com-
munity. As of now, there's no clear
action of what's going to be done," said
Coultras.
BILLING
Continued from Page 1
dents can get the link through Wolver-
ine Access," Middlemas said.
In addition to creating a more stu-
dent-friendly system, Middlemas
added that the University will save
money that would otherwise be used to
pay for postage, paper and printing
costs.
"By eliminating postage, the Uni-
versity will saveaigreat deal of
money which we will hopefully be
able to put into other services. We
send out to the tune of ... 42,000
bills," Middlemas said.
He said other Universityemployees.
have estimated the price of postage and
printing for one statement to be about
$1.25, meaning the University will
save about $52,500 by switching to
electronic bills.
Middlemas also said another rea-
son for the change is to relieve prob-
lems faced by many international
students with regard to their billing
statements.
LSA sophomore Rupa Mehta, who is
from Calgary, Canada, said she faced
late fees once after sending a paper
billing statement home. Mehta said it
can take anywhere from a week and a
half to two weeks to mail letters home.
"I think it's a great idea ... just
because technology is advancing and
it's great to see the University advance
like that, Mehta said.
LSA sophomore Upaasna Gupta
uses the electronic payment service,
and she said the new e-mail notifica-
tions will help her remember when her

bill needs to be paid.
"I think it would be helpful
because sometimes I don't even
know my fees are due. If they do
send out the e-mail, it will make
things easier," Gupta said.
But other students, like LSA sopho-
more Ian Jacobson, said the changes
won't affect them.
"It doesn't matter either way to me,"
said Jacobson, who currently pays his
bill by mail.
Although the University consid-
ered hiring an outside vendor to
install the system, Middlemas said
the changes were made internally in
an effort to lower costs. Schools
such as Eastern Michigan Universi-
ty and the University of Minnesota
have hired outside companies, while
Michigan State University chose to
install the system internally.

Goodness gracious

U.S. OKs funding
to reunite Cyprus

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The
United States pledged $400 million
yesterday to support a U.N. plan for
reunifying Cyprus, but stressed no
money would come unless voters on
the divided island approve the settle-
ment in a referendum next week.
Andrew Natsios, administrator of the
U.S. Agency for International Develop-
ment, made the pledge at the opening of
a meeting convened to assess the total
needs for Cyprus, which were estimated
at more than $1.7 billion over five
years, primarily for housing.
"Absolutely, it's conditional on a set-
tlement," Natsios said. "If they don't
approve it, there's nothing to implement."
He said $100 million would be available
"for immediate needs" and the rest
would be disbursed in future budgets.
The pledge was being announced
before the vote, Natsios said, to help
assuage the "legitimate fear" among
some Cypriots that the international
community might "abandon" the
island financially afterward.
"We wanted to make it clear that that
should not be the basis for people to
vote," he said.
The European Union was expected
to announce plans for about $385 mil-
lion in aid later yesterday.

Recent opinion polls indicate 70
percent of Greek Cypriots oppose the
U.N. plan, while 60 percent of Turkish
Cypriots support it.
The main Greek Cypriot objections
are that the plan limits the right of
Greek Cypriot refugees to return,
while allowing tens of thousands of
Turkish settlers introduced to the occu-
pied north since the 1974 Turkish inva-
sion to remain.
Leaders of both sides of the island
have rejected the proposal, but its fate
will be determined in separate referen-
dums on April 24. If either side rejects
it, EU laws and benefits will, apply
only to the internationally recognized
Greek Cypriot south of the island.
Greece's new conservative govern-
ment expressed cautious support yes-
terday for the proposal.
"The positive elements may prove
to be stronger than the negative," Pre-
mier Costas Caramanlis said. "We
must not let the injustices prevent us
from looking forward."
Turkey said yesterday it would launch
a worldwide campaign for the recogni-
tion if the breakaway Turkish Cypriot
state if Greek Cypriots reject the U.N.
plan. Turkey is the only country that
officially recognizes Turkish Cyprus.

9

LSA senior Michael Kasiborski blows bubbles while LSA Junior Natalie Ponthoff swats at them at
Goodness Day on the Diag yesterday.

4

Agency: Iraqi nuclear facilities remain unguarded

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Some Iraqi nuclear facilities
appear to be unguarded, and radioactive materials are being taken
out of the country, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency reported
after reviewing satellite images and equipment that has turned up in
European scrapyards.
The International Atomic Energy Agency sent a letter to U.S. offi-
cials three weeks ago informing them of the findings. The informa-
tion was also sent to the U.N. Security Council in a letter from its
director, Mohamed ElBaradei, that was circulated yesterday.
The IAEA is waiting for a reply from the United States, which is
leading the coalition administering Iraq, officials said.
The United States has virtually cut off information-sharing with
the IAEA since invading Iraq in March 2003 on the premise that
the country was hiding weapons of mass destruction. No such
weapons have been found, and arms control officials now worry
the war and its chaotic aftermath may have increased chances that
terrorists could get their hands on materials used for unconvention-

al weapons or that civilians may be unknowingly exposed to
radioactive materials.
According to ElBaradei's letter, satellite imagery shows "exten-
sive removal of equipment and in some instances, removal of entire
buildings," in Iraq.
In addition, "large quantities of scrap, some of it contaminated,
have been transferred out of Iraq from sites" previously monitored
by the IAEA.
In January, the IAEA confirmed that Iraq was the likely source
of radioactive material known as yellowcake that was found in a
shipment of scrap metal at Rotterdam harbor.
Yellowcake, or uranium oxide, could be used to build a nuclear
weapon, although it would take tons of the substance refined with
sophisticated technology to harvest enough uranium for a single
bomb. The yellowcake in the shipment was natural uranium ore
which probably came from a known mine in Iraq that was active
before the 1991 Gulf War.

The yellowcake was uncovered Dec. 16 by Rotterdam-based
scrap metal company Jewometaal, which had received it in a ship-
ment of scrap metal from a dealer in Jordan.
A small number of Iraqi missile engines have also turned up in
European ports, IAEA officials said.
"It is not clear whether the removal of these items has been the
result of looting activities in the aftermath of the recent war in Iraq
or as part of systematic efforts to rehabilitate some of their loca-
tions," ElBaradei wrote to the council.
The IAEA has been unable to investigate, monitor or protect
Iraqi nuclear materials since the U.S. invaded the country in March
2003. The United States has refused to allow the IAEA or other
U.N. weapons inspectors into the country, claiming that the coali-
tion has taken over responsibility for illicit weapons searches.
So far those searches have come up empty-handed and the CIA's
first chief weapons hunter has said he no longer believes Iraq had
weapons just prior to the invasion.

a

BUDGET
Continued from Page 1
ty's history. The last capital campaign,
completed in 1996, raised $1.4 billion
overa six-year period.
In addition to the current $20 million
deficit, the University could potentially
face another reduction in state appropri-
ations, depending on the outcome of
next month's state revenue estimating
conference.
The conference is organized by a
group of people, including state Treasur-
er Jay Rising and the directors of the
Senate and House fiscal agencies, who
will determine the state's revenue, which
will subsequently determine the state's
budget. Legislators are required by law
to balance the state budget.
If the state's revenues fail to meet
expectations in May, the government
is likely to offset the deficit by further
reducing higher-education appropria-
tions, Coleman said. "In the best of
circumstances, $20 million has to go,"
she added.
"We're facing much uncertainty in
our own situation because of the state's
uncertainty," Coleman said. "Maybe
we won't get another cut. The problem
is that we don't know.
Regarding Granholm's recent
TRAFFIC
Continued from Page 1
take immediate effect if the Council
approves the plan.
City Administrator Roger Fraser
said the city could not vote on the proj-
ect until it seeks approval from other
parties invested in the area.
"Right now, this plan is just a rec-
ommendation that the Engineering
Department gave to the council to give
it direction. Now, we have to visit the
folks who are affected by these possi-
ble changes and ask them what they
think," Fraser said.
In response to Muslim community
leaders and citizens' calls for a traffic

The drop in state
appropriations last year
was offset by a 6.5
percent tuition increase.
The expected 2.4
percent tuition hike will
not make up for next
year's projected budget
deficit caused by the
substantial cut in
funding from the state.
proposal to double the number of
college graduates in the state, Cole-
man praised the governor's initia-
tive, but cautioned that the state will
need to invest more money in higher
education if it wants a more educat-
ed citizenry.
"I believe, in the 21st century, that
having a highly-educated workforce
is going to be critical for the success
of the state," Coleman said. "It's
right for the state to want a more
educated citizenry ... but it will take
more money."
light after the November tragedy, the
city hired Lansing-based consulting
firm CH2M HILL. It reported in late
January that according to state law, the
levels of pedestrian and vehicle traffic
did not require a traffic signal.
Carlberg said a light at the Plymouth
and Traverwood intersection was rec-
ommended before the two students
were killed, and then was upgraded as
a higher priority within the new plan.
Under the new plan, no traffic light
would be installed at the entrance to
the Islamic Center, but Pirooz said a
signal could be added at the crossing
with Plymouth and Traverwood Drive.
To decide whether a light is needed,
the city would conduct a new traffic

Liberals win S. Korea elections
for first time in four decades

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean voters broke
the conservatives' four-decade grip on parliament yesterday,
bringing to power a liberal party that opposed the president's
impeachment and may seek closer ties to North Korea.
The election completes a momentous shift in South Kore-
an politics, where conservative-dominated legislatures have
checked its few progressive presidents, including President
Roh Moo-hyun.
The Uri Party, which had only 49 seats in the outgoing
assembly, seized 152, a slim majority in the 299-seat cham-
ber, the National Election Commission confirmed Friday.
Its main rival, the conservative Grand National Party, took
only 121 seats. The party, which traces its roots to South
Korea's military dictatorship era, had 137 spots in the previ-
ous assembly.
Yesterday's win for Uri, which backs Roh, could strength-
en his hand as the Constitutional Court decides whether to
uphold his March 12 impeachment on charges of incompe-
tence and illegal electioneering.
It was South Korea's first impeachment since its founding
in 1948.
"This election means that the political forces that have
dominated South Korean politics for 44 years are forced to
leave the stage," Uri chief Chung Dong-young said.
Prime Minister Goh Kun - acting president until the
court decides Roh's fate - pledged economic and political

stability this morning in response to the election results.
He urged parties to end their "politics of confrontation
and conflict" and said it was time for the nation to focus on
economic recovery. Without referring directly to South
Korea's planned troop dispatch to Iraq, Goh also pledged
that the government would stand by earlier promises.
However, the Democratic Labor Party, which won
unprecedented seats in the elections, pledged today to sub-
mit a bill that would cancel South Korea's planned dispatch
of 3,600 troops to Iraq.
The party, backed largely by labor unions that have been
the most vociferous critics of plans to send the troops, won
10 seats, becoming the No. 3 parliamentary group. It has
none in the outgoing parliament.
"I urgently propose that leaders of political parties meet
to discuss retracting the decision to send troops to Iraq,"
party Kwon Young-kil told reporters. "If this matter is not
resolved soon, our party will submit a bill canceling the
troop dispatch as soon as the new National Assembly inau-
gurates."
Another small opposition party, the Millennium Democ-
ratic Party, wanted the dispatch reconsidered. That party will
only have nine seats in the new assembly.
Passage of any anti-dispatch bill would be difficult since
both the Uri Party and the Grand National Party support the
troop deployment.

9
0
6

study either this year or next. A traffic
light would cost the city $100,000.
The proposal would extend Traver-
wood Drive to MacIntyre Street, which
is south of Plymouth. MacIntyre would
then become a four-way intersection.
Beal Avenue would be closed, making
Traverwood the only road to North
Campus from Plymouth.
Fraser said because the University
has a vested interest in Beal Avenue,
which runs through North Campus,
negotiations will be conducted
between city and University officials.
Carlberg (D- 3rd Ward) said it is pos-
sible that a traffic light at Traverwood
could change the configuration of Beal,
which faces the Islamic Center across
Plymouth Road. But she said she does
not think a traffic light is necessary.
Councilmember Bob Johnson (D-
Ward) disagreed with her. He said he
believes that other councilmembers
are not committed enough to increas-
ing safety measures in the area near

"The traffic medians
provide refuge for
pedestrians crossing
the street and are also
aesthetically pleasing.'
- Councilmember Jean Carlberg
(D-3rd Ward)
the Islamic Center and Plymouth
Road, and added that he supports the
addition of a traffic light.
"I personally don't think the plan
goes far enough by just adding traffic
medians. ... I don't see any reason to
wait for a traffic light," Johnson said.
He said he will propose more
changes to the initiative in the hope
that the council will approve even
more safety measures than are now
contained in the plan.
Muslim Community Association
Vice President Kudama Kawan said
leaders from the Islamic Center will
meet with city officials to discuss the
issue today and Monday. Leaders from
the Muslim Community Association